Happy Veterans Day!

            Today we celebrate Veterans Day. I am so grateful to the men and women who choose to serve so that the rest of us can enjoy our freedoms. My Dad was veteran, as is my brother-in-law. My brother served as well. I have many friends who are veterans, and are proud to serve. Veterans and their families know the meaning of sacrifice. Most of them have thought through what they are fighting for, and what they value most in life. They understand discipline and the value of hard work. They know what it is to fight for others who often cannot fight for themselves, and sometimes to fight for those who are hostile to them and their uniform. They fight anyway. The United States, the world, is a better place because of them.

            The Christian faith has been compared to being in an army. One children’s song speaks of being in the Lord’s Army. In the World War II era, the idea of an army was positive; it was a group of men who arrived to save. We had an enemy so evil that we could easily unite and agree to thwart him. In today’s society, the idea of an army is ambiguous at best. We understand that the issues are not cut and dried, that different people have different ideas about how we should interact in our world, and we see the horrors and damage that are the result of armed force. Our soldiers put themselves in harms way, and often bear the scars. Innocents often bear them as well. This post is not a condemnation of our fighting men and women. It is a reminder that the United States and the people of God are two different entities. We are not Christian simply because we are American. The two are not the same.

            God has made it clear that we are not his army. He certainly doesn’t need us fighting and killing for him. The Army of the Lord is made of his heavenly hosts, and he fights the battles for us.

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.” Zech. 4:1

 At one point when Joshua was fighting to claim the promised land, God rained hail down upon his enemy, killing them before Joshua and his men even got there. When Gideon was going against the Midianites, God surrounded them with an angelic army, and opened Gideon’s eyes to encourage him. To God belonged the battle.

            No, we are not God’s army; we are his body. We aren’t fighting battles. God is doing that. He gives us armor to protect us, and then tells us to stand firm. He’s doing the actual fighting. We are his physical body, the way he reaches to a physical world. We are his arms, to hug and hold the hurting. We are his feet, taking his message of peace to an angry world. We are his lips, singing the songs of mercy and bringing the words of salvation.

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion,

‘Your God Reigns!’ Isaiah 52:7

           

We are to be the people with the beautiful feet! We have news to share, and it is good news, indeed. We have news of restoration and help for the people of the Philippines today. We have news of peace for people in Syria. We have news of healing and completeness for the wounded Veterans around the United States.

I am so grateful for our Veterans. I am both American and Christian, and I am blessed by both of those facts. My gratitude needs to go beyond a blog post or a Facebook posting on Veterans Day. I need to see them, to thank them, to offer whatever help I can every day. I need to live as his body.

How will we live as his body today?

Are You Devourable?

“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  But resist him, firm in your faith…”  I Peter 5:8-9

            Christians typically make one of two mistakes regarding Satan.  Either they discount the existence of Satan, reducing him to the personification of the potential evil present in our world, or they go to the opposite extreme, seeing satanic activity in every illness, addiction and atmospheric disturbance. 

            Satan is real.  Jesus Himself spoke of him in terms that were in no way symbolic.  Paul describes him as disguising himself as an angel of light.  He, too, clearly believed in the person of Satan.  He is described as the author of lies, and James says that what comes from him is disorder and every evil thing.

            Satan is bad, no question about it.  But he is not to be a source of fear for the believer in Jesus Christ.  His doom is sure.  While we enjoy heaven and fellowship with God, Satan’s demise, already foretold, will be in the lake of fire.  He holds no power over us, except that which we give him.  Jesus conquered Satan and took his power over us away when He died in our place, and rose from the dead.  “Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.” 

            Peter tells us that Satan prowls around like a lion, looking for someone to devour.  Clearly, not everyone is devourable.  Peter tells us how to be devour-proof.  Resist him.  Stand firm.  James 4:8 tells us to resist the devil and he will flee from us.  Not actively fight against. Not exorcise.  Not even engage in warfare.  Simply resist.  James goes on to remind us that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. 

            Our view of Satan must be balanced.  Our attitude must be one of realistic respect.  He is real. If we give him a chance, show him areas of sin that we refuse to submit to God, then we leave ourselves open to his attacks.  But we are sealed by the Spirit and indwelt by God.  We should not be overawed by his brilliance or cowed by his power.  He is feeble indeed in comparison to Christ.

            Lord Jesus, give us victory over Satan and his schemes.  Help us to hand every area of our lives over in submission to You.  Help us to keep our eyes so firmly on You that Satan is irrelevant.  Thank You for Your work of salvation and freedom in our lives.     

Post-Halloween

Once again, I am sitting in class, looking out the window instead of paying strict attention, like I should. This has been a problem for me my whole life, by the way. On nearly every report card was the comment, “Daydreams too much.” Or “engages her neighbor rather than paying attention.” Anyway, as I sit tuning out my professor, trying not to miss anything but really not focusing, there is a group of people who are walking by in costume. There is an aging Viking. It might be Thor, but if so he’s lacking a little. Like abs. A princess. Frankenstein. A whole mash of zombies. I have no idea what they were doing. My class didn’t dress up, and its not actually Halloween.

            I admit that I have a love/hate relationship with Halloween. Evil is such a present reality, and I don’t ever want to make light of the real evil that exists. People have real experience at the hand of evil. Halloween seems to make light of that. There are real monsters out there. Some of us are living with them or grew up with them. Some of us have suffered at their hands. History is full of them.

            On the other hand, dressing up and pretending to be scared, having things jump out at you while you know you are completely safe, and eating candy is fun! Decorating for Halloween is so much easier than for other holidays; the cobwebs are already up! Little people dressed up as some adult figure are so darned cute. I love seeing the princesses and cowboys and batmen that show up at the door. Even the pets get in on the dressing up these days.

            When my kids were little, our church dealt with this tension by having harvest parties where we bobbed for apples and ate doughnuts off a string and played carnival games, and where kids dressed up as Bible characters. Today, my kids are grown up and making their own choices about Halloween.

            However you feel about Halloween, I hope you are thinking about the issues. I hope you wrestle with how God would have you glorify him on that day.  Actually, that’s my hope for you everyday. Every day, we should be wrestling with how to live in this world, how to participate in culture, and how to do it with integrity of how we say we believe. How can I bring glory to God in my classes? (I know what you’re thinking; perhaps I should stop looking out the window!) How can I bring glory to God in my home, in my workplace, among my friends?

Beloved, do not imitate evil, but imitate good.

3 John 11

Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice… Amos 5:15

I elected not post this on Halloween because I wanted us to focus on the real issue. I don’t care how you address Halloween; I care that you address evil in every part of your life. Do you think about entertainment? How do you decide what TV shows or movies to watch? What about work ethics? Would you engage in practices for work that you wouldn’t engage in otherwise? Is it OK to lie to your boss about being sick? Is it OK to lie for your boss? Is your language different when you drive than it is at church? Do you smile at the lady you are gossiping about later?

            How do you make choices about how to live your life, every day?

Each moment, we get to choose what we will do or say, whether we will bring glory to God or not. We get to choose how to live for him. We decide what others around us will see and know about God. We decide whether we will draw closer or turn away from him.

            So its not whether we dress up and eat too much candy, its how we reflect him to the world around us in this moment. We need to address the evil around us, to armor up and be aware of the choices we are making. Evil is real. We don’t need to be afraid, but we do need to be aware, and not participate in it. It’s not who we are anymore.

Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness. Ephesians 4:22-24

Attitude of Gratitude

     I confess. I’m a lurker. I love social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, but I rarely post. I like to stay in the shadows, lurking around, watching everything you do and say. I leave the occasional pithy comments (I seriously need a sarcasm font, so you all will know when to take me seriously). I make myself post from time to time so that my family doesn’t get worried. I love to post silly jokes (cow jokes are my favorite). I try to keep my posts positive and uplifting. Rarely do I share the stuff that weighs on my heart.

     I admire those people who ask deep philosophical questions, probing their friends for the answers to the questions of the universe, those answers beyond 42. They encourage us to think and are willing to engage us and prod us to go beyond our comfort zones. They aren’t worried about making us angry. I think they want us to think deeply, but maybe what they really want is for us to agree with them.

     My favorite time of year on Facebook is the month of November. Over the past few years someone there has issued a gratitude challenge. The challenge is to post something that you are grateful for every single day.

 “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.”  Psalm 136

     It’s harder than it sounds. There are thirty days in the month. Once you get past your family and friends (how many kids do you have, anyway?!), past the gifts of nature, you have to begin to really look. I find myself keeping my eyes open for things I can post that I am thankful for. Every day becomes a scavenger hunt of sorts. What will I discover today? What might I have missed if I weren’t looking?

     I reconnect with the amazing way God is working in my life. I see my days in a new light. I have a new awareness of how blessed I am. My mood is lighter, and I find myself whistling more. (Yes, I whistle. I like to whistle.) I actually feel better.

 “A cheerful look brings joy to the heart,

and good news gives health to the bones.” Prov. 15:30

     Some of the best parts of this month of gratitude are the responses of other people. When we share the goodness of the Lord, we are sharing the gospel, the good news of what it means to be in relationship with God. God is good to us. Sometimes we forget. We get bogged down with the details of life, and we forget the bigger picture that shows how blessed we are.

     We are intended to live life with an attitude of gratitude. We should be a people who are hugely aware of how good God is, of how wide is his mercy and how full is his grace. We can encourage one another just by keeping our eyes and hearts open.

     So, how about it? Will you take up the November challenge? Either on Facebook or Twitter or in your personal journal or your blog will you look for and post every day something you are grateful for? I’ll be watching, and I hope you’ll share with me as I open my eyes as well.

We've Got Today!

“This is the day that the Lord has made;

Let us rejoice and be glad in it!”  Psalm 118:24

As I look at the Body of Christ, I see a people who are often just as worried and harried as the non-Christian world around them.  In the words of an old-timer, “too many Christians look like they’ve been suckin’ on sour persimmons!”  The Psalmist implies that joy is a choice.  I can choose to rejoice in this day, or not.  He goes on to give us several clues to living joy:

Live in the present.  “This is the day…”, and truly, this is the only day we have.  Yesterday is gone, tomorrow may never come.  But I have today, this moment.  Right now I can choose to find something to rejoice about.  If you are reading this I can only assume that you are breathing.  This alone seems cause for joy.

Keep focused on the Lord.  “This is the day that the Lord has made…”  God made this day.  To what end?  What does He intend for this day?  As Jesus talked to His disciples in John 15 about abiding in Him, He says that “these things I have spoken unto you that My joy might be in you, and that your joy may be made full…” Living in Jesus, dwelling in His presence, is a key to joy.

Remember to be grateful.  “Let us rejoice and be glad…”  Perhaps finding things to be grateful for, to be glad about, is hard for you.  Maybe you are alone, or facing financial hardship, or perhaps you struggle with depression or poor health.  Still, God tells us to rejoice, if for no other reason than that He died to save us.  Having an attitude of gratefulness to the Lord is a choice we make.  We choose to focus on His blessings and remember consciously to thank Him for them.  This may require a shift in our mindset, but such a shift results in our strength and in our becoming a people marked by joy.  As others around us see joy that surpasses human understanding, they can’t help but wonder at it’s source.

Goofy love

At my school there is a one-lane road that goes past the library. There is a lot of foot traffic that crosses it, so there is a stop sign and a mirror, so that you can see if someone might be coming. A young man was walking along with a baby in a Snuggli on his chest. It was at a time when most classes were in session, so he was largely alone. He stopped at the mirror, and pointed to the baby in the mirror, talking to the baby in the Snuggli, smiling and sweet with a really goofy look on his face. He then kissed the baby on the top of the head, and continued on. I watched this exchange through the window of the class I was attending, and the thought occurred to me that men have no idea how attractive they are to women when they are sweet and tender, especially to their children. There is something incredibly appealing about the combination of masculine strength and fraternal tenderness.

           

I have to wonder that if we understood that this is a picture of how God loves us, how could any of us resist him? The Ultimate Strength loves us in the most tender of ways.

“See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are.” I John 3:1

This is our reality. The great God, who created the universe, loves me. He loves me like the father I watched loves his baby. There is a tender, goofy sense to how much God delights in us. He loves watching us grow, playing with us, feeding us, communicating with us.

There is fierceness to his love, as well. He is guiding us, building us into his people, the bride for his Son. He protects us.

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time, and now and forever. Jude 24-25

He is able. He is our Father. He is willing. We are his.

These are such simple truths, little bitty sentences that contain so much love and tenderness for us. I have written often about the relationship that God desires with us recently. I have to wonder how different our lives might be if we could grasp and believe how loved we are. I confess that I struggle in this area. I believe in God’s love for me in a big, overarching way, in the way that he loves all humanity. I struggle to understand that God loves me like a father loves his baby, like a King loves his princess. Intellectually I know it; my heart struggles to believe it in a way that makes it a part of the way I live.

If I really believed that God loves me in this way I would never struggle with what other people think of me. I would live in obedience, knowing that God really does have my best interests and my joy in mind. I would never feel insecure, wondering what anybody could find interesting about me. I may not be interesting, but I am his!

“Beloved let us love one another, for love is from God…” I John 4:7

“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

We were his enemies. He has adopted us as his children. We fight him. We disobey him. We ignore him. Still he loves us. I am so blown away by this truth, and yet sometimes I forget. You forget. And so he gives us to each other, to love each other and remind each other of how precious we are to him.

How different would your life look if you lived into this truth today? Could you assume the best intention from your husband when he does something you perceive as hurtful, because you know your worth? Could you reach out one more time to that angry, surly teenager, because she needs to be reminded of how precious she is? Would you take the time to reach out to that sister who is hurting, knowing that sometimes encouragement requires skin and arms? Would you be able to let go of the hurt that resides in your heart because of the callous way someone has treated you, knowing how much God has forgiven you in order to love you as his child?

Consider yourself reminded. You are loved. You are precious. God gets that goofy look when he thinks about you. Now, go remind someone else.

Would God be able to trust you?

              Job experienced the ultimate test of faith.  He endured more tragedy in a single day than most people experience in an entire lifetime.  In the span of a few hours his servants were slaughtered, his possessions were stolen, and his children perished in a collapsing house.  And that was only the beginning.  Within a few days his body was covered with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.  His wife was no great encouragement.  “Curse God and die” was her advice.  His friends attacked him with a series of insufferable speeches.  Satan assailed Job’s faith as feeble and fleeting; “Let me have him, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”

            Job’s response to all this was remarkable.  Emotionally he was on a roller coaster, his mind desperately seeking answers, yet in the midst of the turmoil, Job personifies extreme faith by staking his fate and fortune on the trustworthiness of God.  In Job 13:15 Job shows the firmness of his faith; “though He slay me, I will hope in Him.”  In 19:25-26 he exposes the foundation His faith is built on. 

         “And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth.  Even after my skin is destroyed yet from my flesh, I shall see God…” Job 19:25-26

            Jobs faith amazes us.  His ability to hang on to the Truth that stands true outside of circumstance and emotion is an example to each of us.  Job must have felt abandoned by God, yet the reality of the situation is that at no time in Job’s life was God paying closer attention.  Job’s present reality was awful, yet he retained an eternal perspective that enabled him to see beyond the current events to a future where He would see God face to face.

            The truly amazing part of this story is God’s faith in Job.  Satan comes to God and tells Him that Job only follows Him because God has blessed him.  If God were to take away the blessing, Satan says that Job would curse God.  But God knows Job.  God knows the strength of Job’s faith and commitment to Him.  God knew Job well enough to know that He could trust Job with His very reputation.  We often forget that a relationship with God goes two ways.  As we grow closer to God and learn more of His nature and character, God is also growing closer to us, knowing our strengths and what our character holds.  While God’s knowledge is not limited like ours us, somehow He treasures a relationship with us, desiring to be our friend.

            Ephesians 6:16 calls faith our shield, able to extinguish the flaming arrows of Satan. With the shield of faith in his hand, Job was able to stand strong and steadfast against persecutions, temptations, and even the thoughts of Satan whispered in his ear.  Because of faith, we too can stand firm, even when we don’t understand the purpose of God.  Extreme faith, like that of Job’s, can be ours as we draw near to God, and trust in His character and friendship. 

            Some days I can relate to Job. I feel like God has handed me over to Satan, and I am wallowing in a dust pit, picking my sores. I am a bit of a whiner. I've not gone through anything compared to Job. Some of you are going through rough times. Money is tight. You're having to move. Your kids are having a hard time in school. Life is hard. But remember, not only can you trust God, but God is trusting you. You hold his reputation in your hand; he holds you in his hand. Somehow, I think we got the better end of the deal. 

          Rest in him. He is able. 

          

          with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 

Romans 10:10-11